The new gates at MBTA subway stations have unacceptably high failure rates
The new gates that the MBTA has installed at subway stations for the new CharlieTicket (and eventually the CharlieCard) have unacceptably high failure rates. In my personal experience the card has a failure rate somewhere between 5% and 10%. Last Wednesday night five of the gates at North Station refused my ticket, three or four of them repeatedly. In the end I gave up and walked to the subway stop at Government Center, which is fine on a week like this when the temperatures are almost springlike and there’s very little precipitation, but it would be annoying to have to trudge through snow or sleet for several blocks just because the T can’t get its act together. This evening I almost steam-rolled some poor sap whose ticket had decided to take an early weekend. Two or three gates at the Kenmore Square T-station have been been put out of commission for the time being, their card slots covered with tape.
Not impressive, not impressive at all.
Other T observations:
- A man keeled over at the Coolidge Corner stop on Thursday and was taken away in an ambulance.
- The North Station waiting area has reopened. It’s nice.
